Career
He was an influential literary scholar, having written a seminal dictionary of the Somali language. He is related to Ali Yusuf Kenadid, the second Sultan of the Sultanate of Hobyo. His father, Osman Yusuf Kenadid, was the brother of Ali Yusuf and the creator of the Osmanya script.
Kenadid was born in Hobyo (Obbia), Somalia during 1919.
He attended a Quranic school until he was fifteen. He then move to Mogadishu, attending both Italian and Arabic schools where he learned English.
Kenadid helped found the Society for Somali Language and Literature.